Decorating Gift Bags for Mother's Day!

Ya'll know I've said it before, I love wrapping presents and making gifts looks special!  Gift bags have just about replaced wrapping presents in a box these days so I've decided if I can't decorate a box, I'll decorate a bag!  I want my presents to say, "Open me first!".  Here are the instructions on how I dress up gift bags with "Bag Collars"!  I usually buy several different colors and sizes of  bags to have on hand in my wrapping closet.  That way I can personalize the collar for the recipient of the gift instead of just giving a plain old bag!  I will go ahead and admit this....after taking pictures while  I was making a collar I realized I ended up with tons of pictures and a list of 23 steps to create these easy little bag collars.  It sounds daunting with all the pictures and steps but it is so easy and I'm sure can easily be shown in 5 steps but I tend to give instructions in more detail than I actually need to.  You are basically cutting a piece of cardstock long enough for a graphic and a fold at the top to tuck over the top edge of the bag...but...here is how I can make something so simple....so long!

Pick a bag and print a graphic in the middle of a piece of cardstock.  If you don't have a graphic, you can use a rubber stamp, cut out an old card you have received, use solid paper or to make it really special, glue a photo of the person who is to receive the gift!

Place the sheet with your graphic over the bag and trim the sides so the collar is narrower than the bag.  I'm going to add a border so I trimmed 3/4 off each side.

Center your graphic sheet over the bag to determine placement of the graphic itself.  Mark with a pencil on each side.

Measure 1/2" above this mark and draw a line.  Cut along this line.

Using a bone folder and straight edge place your straight edge along your first pencil marks and run the bone folder along the straight edge to form a crease.  This helps so much when folding paper but if you don't have a bone folder you can use the back edge of a butter knife.

Fold on crease

Place and center the folded edge along top of bag and on the fold, make a pencil mark at the handles.

Cut notches 1/2" wide up to the fold.  Your collar will be placed so it folds over the top edge of bag.

Decide how long you want your collar to extend down and mark the center with a dot.

Now, decide the angle of your collar and mark this point on left side of collar.

On the left side measure from the fold down to this mark.  You will need this measurement for the right side.

Now, using the measurement from the last step, measure this length on the right side of the collar from the fold down and mark.

Draw a line from the center mark of collar to each side mark.  This will form your point.  Cut along these lines.

Your collar will be placed in the center with fold over the top.

Now, using your border paper, mark width of bag.

Using double-sided tape, run tape along all edges of back of collar and center the collar on your border paper.

Since my collar will have a 3/4" border, measure 3/4" from collar on all edges and draw a line using a straight edge.

Cut along lines and cut out notches at top.  Fold along upper crease line.

Position collar over the top of the bag and tape the flap down on the side of the bag.  Place a small piece of double-sided tape at the bottom point of the collar to hold it in place.

The left gift bag has a graphic I found online.  I used a rubber stamp on the pineapple bag.

On this bag I scanned some beautiful toile wrapping paper I had but it was in navy and white.  I needed sea foam!  Once I inserted the scanned graphic into my document I changed the color of the graphic to the color I needed and printed.  I will be sharing this step by step "how-to" in a future post!

You can use just about anything to make a collar, I've used newsprint, old sheet music, Sunday comics, wrapping paper, doilies, and scrapbooking paper.  Your ideas are a big as your imagination!  I hope you enjoy this project and have fun decorating your Mother's Day packages as well as all those graduation gifts you will be buying this month and wedding gifts next month!  Until later...

                                                                                                                    ~Becky

Preppy Gift Pots

We have a wonderful PTO here at my school and tonight they are sponsoring a BINGO Night and Raffle.  They do so much for us so I volunteered to make up one of my "Preppy Pots" and fill it with lots of goodies for the raffle.  This is what I included:

Journal with cute little teacups on the front

Kleenex Tissue Holder (directions for sewing these are here)

Palmetto Hand Towel

Thank You Notes

4 1/4" x 5 1/2" notepad with a cute Bermuda bag

5 1/2" x 8 1/2" ribbon notepad

Gift enclosure cards

2 candles

Preppy Stripe Keyring

2 Huge Chocolate Symphony Bars

I put everything into a polka dot terracotta pot that I painted and stuffed tissue paper in all the little crevices!

This is the finished product!  I hope whoever wins this raffle will enjoy all the things I've included!

All Wrapped Up & Ready To Go!

I love giving presents but I really love wrapping them!  I have always wanted my own gift wrapping business because it's so much fun making the outside look as good as what's inside the box!  I've always said, I don't care what's in the package, the wrapping is what's so much fun.  Here is a simple gift wrapping idea that I think will be great for the holidays even though the gifts pictured are wrapped in all occasion wrapping paper.  For those of you who have to mail packages and want them to arrive festive, this is the way to go!  No bows to worry about smashing and if you have to travel to your Christmas destination these packages stack wonderfully in your car.  I love monograms!  Everyone loves a personalized gift so why not package it personalized as well.  You begin by wrapping the package as you normally would but instead of sticking one of those pre-made bows on the box that will fall off a hundred times before you give the gift, print the recipient's monogram on a nice cardstock and cut it to the desired size.  Cut another piece of contrasting cardstock for your backing or "mat".  I used a corner punch on the first package to give it a feminine touch.  If you don't have a corner punch that's okay, cut the mat 1/2 inch larger than the monogram sheet.  That will give you a 1/4 inch border and using double sided tape mount the monogram onto the mat.  Wrap your ribbon around the package and then using the same double-sided tape, stick the monogram over the ribbon...and there you have it!  A simple, elegantly wrapped gift.  This is a great idea for wrapping gifts for men...they don't like bows anyway!  The one I have pictured here I didn't even put a mat on the back of the monogram.  I have used this idea to wrap wedding gifts and I use the last initial of the groom in the middle, the left the first initial of the bride and on the right the first initial of the groom.  You can use any font on your computer. These are "monogram fonts" that I purchased at http://www.fontbros.com/ and they are very reasonably priced! They are in the "Harold's Fonts" collection.  Another great thing about this is you don't have to use gift cards.  I usually enclose a card stating who the gift is from but you can also tape a calling card to the back.  Now have fun wrapping those Christmas gifts early and just stack them in your closet until the tree goes up!  If you have any questions, just email me at sweetteaandpearlsblog@gmail.com.  More gift wrapping ideas to come!!  ~Becky